A self-proclaimed food and fitness freak shares the basics. Life, Love and the Pursuit of Deliciousness.
Just a Bite
This is mine and Steve’s “first” Christmas. Although we lived together last year, we made it a point to have our first year of marriage different than our first year of just living with one another. I came across this and thought there were a lot of awesome ideas for starting Christmas traditions of our own!
It happened - I got my butt kicked AGAIN. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone through a workout and was staring at the clock, praying that it was almost over…until I went to my first class at Title Boxing in Buffalo Grove, IL. I’ve been looking for a fitness challenge, my newest fix - something that is going to throw me off this plateau that I’ve been on and get me back to “wedding weight” as I so affectionately like to call it. Lately, that “wedding weight” seems to be such an arbitrary number - everyone thinks I’m crazy - that I look just fine, that the number doesn’t matter, that I was too thin for my wedding due to stress. But none of that matters to me, what matters is that I’ve set a goal and I intend to hit it, no matter how long it takes (although I’m hoping sooner rather than later because man, this has been harder than being wedding weight before!).
That being said, I’ve lost about 3 lbs since I started working with my trainer. Ok, so three #s seems like nothing, but on a fairly small frame, with body fat in the “athlete” range and someone (despite the recipes you see) to eats relatively healthy, three #s is remarkable, but I need more. Enter Title Boxing. My husband and I have driven past and talked about joining a million times (ok, like twice, but who’s counting anyways?), this past Friday we finally took the plunge. I’ll admit, I’ve done some intense workouts in my day. My cousin used to own a gym that followed Crossfit principles, I’ve done CrossFit, I’ve deadlifted more than my weight, thrown barbells over my head, run until I was in pain. I went into this place expecting a walk in the park…I wore my leggings instead of shorts, put on the t-shirt I had been wearing all day instead of an actual “gym” shirt - I was ready for a workout, not boot camp.
I could not have been more wrong. Twenty minutes into the “warm up” Steve and I looked at one another with mere panic in our eyes. “Only 5 more minutes of the warm up guys, c’mon, you can do it, power through” shouted our trainer. FIVE MORE MINUTES?
It was AWESOME. I dripped sweat the whole time, was so sore and tired I wanted to give up more than anything. It was by far one of the best workouts I had had in a long time. So challenging, so different, so hard! Needless to say…we signed up for the next few months, and the next day we both could barely move. Try it - if you can handle the workout, its totally worth it!
Did you know that grapefruit has been proven to increase one’s metabolism? It’s true! Due to the enzymes found in grapefruits, eating grapefruit before a meal can actually help one to burn fat. Grapefruits are only 53 calories and very low on the glycemic index. Studies have shown that those who ate a grapefruit before each meal, or drank 100% grapefruit juice lost .3 more LBs than those who did not (according to medicalnewstoday.com). There has also been a proven link between grapefruits and insulin - a smaller insulin spike occurs creating less fat storage after a meal.
And the best part? Here in the Midwest - one can get grapefruits for as little as $0.54/fruit even in the winter seasons! Seems a lot cheaper than some of those diet pills on the market, doesn’t it?
I was on Pinterest…of course when I stumbled upon a Mr. Food recipe for Perogi lasagna. How delicious and how…carb full! I decided that I couldn’t wait to make and eat it - it had cheese and potatoes and pasta, have I caught your attention yet? I decided though, that I did NOT need a meal full of carbs - I still try and keep them to a limit so that had me thinking - why not make them as stuffed shells?
It was perfect, I had the ingredients at home, I already had my protein picked out, and it would make the perfect side to our sauteed chicken and arugala. This recipe can make anywhere from a serving for two to a serving for a potluck of 15 people or more. What’s great about it is once you have the ingredients and the taste buds, you can just play around with it as you please! I have included the recipe for a large group - it’s a little easier than measuring for two :).
PEROGI STUFFED SHELLS
1 LB Jumbo Stuffed Shells (cooked, drained and cooled)
1 box (17 servings) of instant mashed potatoes (you can also do homemade mashed potatoes, one small potato per person)
1 Medium onion
8oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/4 C Sour Cream
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Parsley Flakes
2 tbsp Chives
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cook pasta shells according to package, drain and set aside to cool. Prepare mashed potatoes according to package or use your own homemade mashed potatoes recipe. While potatoes are cooking, saute onions in butter until they are golden brown. Once potatoes are done cooking, add in sour cream, parsley, garlic, chives, salt, pepper and onions with all drippings, combine thoroughly. Add in 1 C shredded cheddar cheese, stir. Warm potatoes until all ingredients are blended. With rounded tablespoon fulls, fill each shell with the potato mixture. Once all shells are filled, melt butter in large fry pan. Add shells, first noodle side down, then potato side down until browned (this step is just to brown the noodles and potatoes enough to warm, be careful not to overcook). Serve hot with sour cream.
I’m always looking for something new to make, especially with chicken. I LOVE chicken but sometimes, it feels like one falls in the monotony of the same ol’ same ol’. Fried chicken, lemon buttered chicken, marinated chicken, chicken teriyaki, chicken sandwiches, chicken meatballs, chicken with dumplings, sauteed chicken…do I sound like Bubba from Forest Gump yet? So I came across this recipe on Pinterest and like most recipes, I found myself drooling. My stomach was singing (not to be mistaken for growling) with the thought of such a fantastic taste combination. Basil - so refreshing, dijon - so bold, LIME - so sour!
Since I’m a carb-lover (but mostly avoider) - tossing all this with pasta instantly caught my attention. The olive oil and the chunks of basil all tossed with the crunch of grilled chicken in an el dente angel hair pasta…are you salivating yet? I made no changes to the recipe except I added a little more dijon, basil and lime - those three flavors together just make my tastebuds soar and I don’t think there is such thing as too much of it! I tossed with pasta and served with a little fresh parmesan on top - enjoy!
Tempura batter chicken, artichokes with butter, breadcrumbs dipping sauce and sautéed spaghetti squash
I’ve get asked a lot on how to make my protein pancakes, so here’s my recipe! It’s super fast, quick, healthy, and LOW in calories.
What you’ll need:
- blender
- 1/2 cup of natural oats
- 1/4 cup of low fat cottage cheese
- 1 tbs flaxseed
- vanilla extract
- 2 egg whites
- unsweetened vanilla almond milkInstructions:
Throw in all of your ingredients in your blender an add a splash of vanilla extract and almond milk for flavor and consistency. Blend until smooth. Should come out to a pancakes batter consistency.Heat up a pan and you can use a nonstick olive oil spray or I would recommend coconut oil! This should make about 3 pancakes.
Top it off with sugar-free maple syrup and pair it up with lean turkey bacon.
This is a great way to start off your day. This is a protein packed breakfast that will be sure to have you full, without feeling the guilt. And it’s waist friendly too!
Happy eating, xo!
Yummy:)
High intensity interval training has always been a go to for many fitness gurus and trainers alike. Through extensive studies, a Dr. Tabata came up with the newest craze in high intensity interval training. The theory is that through quick, high intensity motions, and brief pauses that the body will work so much without recovery time that one will continue to burn calories up to 72 hours post workout. Crazy right? Crossfit gyms all over the country are using these principles in a lot of their WOD workouts and the results speak for themselves!
The protocol is to do 20 seconds of extremely high intensity training (think, as hard as you can go, omgimgonnapuke style, aka 170% VO2) followed by a 10 second rest period. Studies have shown that athletes who added Tabata intervals to their regular routines with less frequency showed more gain than those who worked out longer and more frequently at a lower VO2 rate. The best part?! These are only FOUR MINUTES LONG! Complete the set 4 times for a quick and effective workout.
For my routine, I like to do 6-8 sets of the 4-minute workout. I usually will do bicep curls (the key is to average approximately 20-25 curls per 20 second set), then the next 4 minutes I’ll do squats, then flys, the next 4-minutes deadlifts, and then shoulder presses or rows. It’s a great workout for days that you don’t have a ton of time to workout but want to still commit to burning some calories. It can be done at home with little to no equipment and I HIGHLY recommend trying it. Take 20 minutes out today to get moving and get losing!
